Mom, Buffy Said Hellmouth!
by Jeanny
Summary: Welcome to the Hellmouth in the Dawnverse. **COMPLETE**
1. Part 1

Title: Mom, Buffy Said Hellmouth!

Author: Jeanny

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Season 5 kinda

Distribution: I don't mind, just credit me and let me know where it's going.

Feedback: Please. jeannygrrl@hotmail.com

Summary: Welcome to the Hellmouth in the Dawnverse.

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters that appear on the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy, Inc., UPN and any one else with a legal binding claim to the shows and/or characters. No copyright infringement is intended. This story is an alternative retelling of "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest", both written by Joss Whedon. A lot of the dialogue and plot are his, just twisted a bit by little ole me.

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The jeep pulled up to the school building, and the women inside gazed at it for a moment. Everything was new to them here. Everything they had known before was gone, changed, different. They were charting new territory with every step.

Joyce Summers smiled back at her daughter Buffy tentatively, nodding towards the school.

"Okay." Buffy opened the rear door and exited on the side closest to the school. Her mother leaned across the front seat to talk to her.

"Have a good time. I know you're going to make friends right away, just think positive."

"And don't burn down the gym!" the eleven-year-old girl seated next to Joyce piped in, a smug look on her face. Buffy looked at her mother with the expression of indignation only a sixteen-year-old can manage.

"Mom, tell her to stop talking about that!" Joyce sighed, giving Dawn a reprimanding look.

"Dawn, we've talked about this a hundred times. Your sister is a Slayer, and that occasionally means that she might have to do things that are...unconventional."

"More like criminal," Dawn muttered under her breath. Joyce and Buffy both glared at her.

"You are not to tease or make fun of her about this anymore, Dawn. It's bad enough that she's a..." At the hurt expression on Buffy's face, Joyce quickly shifted gears. "Buffy has a sacred duty to slay vampires, and that's burden enough without you making it worse. Apologize to your sister, right now." 

Dawn looked at her sister, and knowing her mother couldn't see from her current angle, stuck her tongue out at her.

"Sorry, Buffy, for reminding you of how you got kicked out of school for being a pyro...to kill vampires," she finished sulkily at Joyce's gentle nudge. Buffy's expression said that wasn't really good enough, but Joyce knew that was the best she'd be able to manage. For not the first time that morning she mentally cursed her ex-husband and his narrow-mindedness. Looking at her watch, she sighed again.

" I have to get your sister to school. Buffy, just for today...try not to slay anything, all right?"

"I promise." Buffy squared her shoulders and marched towards the school, her mother giving her one last wistful glance before glaring at her youngest and driving away. Dawn stared gloomily out the window.

*Sure, not only do I have to move to stupid Suckydale, lose all my friends, lose my Dad and everything, all because Buffy had to go all freak-commando and get herself kicked out of school, but I have to watch that her precious baby Slayer feelings don't get hurt. God, how much does my life suck right now. And I can't even tell anyone because it's supposed to be some sort of mega-huge secret. Like anyone would really care about her precious vampires, anyway, that Anne Rice thing is so over.* Dawn's bitter mental diatribe continued all the way to the new elementary school.

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Buffy hadn't seen Joyce when she got home, which was good. She pretty much dreaded telling her Mom about her school day. On the plus side, she was fairly sure she had made some new friends. Willow, though painfully lacking even a shred of self-esteem, was really smart and kind; Buffy could just tell she was a good person to know. Willow's friends Xander and Jesse had been sweet and funny, too. Cordelia had been nice to Buffy, but she was the type of girl she had been friends with at Hemery, and Buffy knew that the weirdness that went along with being the Slayer would keep her from ever being part of the popular crowd again. The twinge of regret that that thought brought her was surprisingly slight. Those girls seemed incredibly shallow and self-serving to her now.

And there was the neutral part, which was the new Watcher, Rupert Giles. Willow had been very enthusiastic about the guy, but Buffy wasn't so sure. Merrick had been her Watcher, and had trained her and had died for her, and she really didn't want to go through that again. But it was nice to know that maybe she wasn't all alone. Slaying was so lonely. Maybe this Giles guy was okay; maybe he could help her.

And then there was the 'it's an understatement to call this negative' part of her day: dead boy in locker, definitely attacked by a vamp. She knew that her mother had been hoping that the vampires would be left in Los Angeles along with her father and the bad memories attached to both. Buffy now knew that was not to be, and she would be slaying tonight. As well as dancing at the Bronze, which was why she was busy trying to find an outfit that would work for both. She held up a shiny black outfit, grimacing.

"Hi, I'm an enormous slut!" Buffy mocked to her mirror.

"You said it, not me." Buffy whirled at the unwelcome voice, which was attached to pint-sized unwelcome visitor. She took a deep breath for maximum shouting volume.

"MOM! Tell Dawn to stay OUT of my room, please!!!"

"I didn't do anything! Tell Buffy to quit being mean to me!"

"Get out of here, you little brat!"

"What are you gonna do, SLAY me?" Before Buffy could reply, Joyce appeared in the doorway, looking frazzled.

"Girls, stop this shouting right now!" The sisters were instantly quiet, but still glared at each other. Joyce turned to her youngest first. "Dawn, go to your room."

"But Mom, Buffy-" Dawn began to whine

"Room. Now." Dawn stalked out, giving one last bitter look to her sister. Buffy stuck her tongue out at her, which Joyce unfortunately saw. Avoiding her mother's look of disappointment and hoping to delay the impending lecture, Buffy replaced the dresses she had been looking at in her closet.

"Are you going out tonight?" her mother asked, her tone somehow managing to be light and grave. Buffy knew the real question she was asking was if she was going to go seek out vampires, but chose to pretend otherwise.

"Yeah, I'm going to a club."

"Oh. Will there be boys there?" The normalcy of this mother-daughter interaction was both comforting and painful for Joyce. At moments like this she could pretend that the only thing her daughter was Chosen for was to get into an Ivy League college. Buffy rolled her eyes at her mother.

"No, Mom. It's a nun club." Joyce nodded slowly.

"Well, be careful." Again with the double meaning. Buffy knew the time to tell her mother about Rupert Giles and the dead boy was now, but she didn't think she'd be able to do it. She opened her mouth to speak, when a loud crashing sound came from the other room, followed by a high pitched voice.

"I didn't do it." Buffy raised her eyebrows and gave her mother her patented 'you gave birth to that' look. Joyce closed her eyes for a second wearily, then walked out of the room. Buffy flopped onto her bed. *Saved by the walking disaster.*

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Dawn could hear her mother pacing the hall and sighed again. Didn't Buffy get what she was doing to their family? They had to move to this stupid town, which apparently is vampire central, and none of them ever got any sleep anymore. Typical of Buffy to make them all worry like this.

*She probably isn't even slaying. She probably just found some boys and she's...ewww, I'm not even having that thought.* Dawn blinked up at the dark ceiling, using her annoyance to blunt the fear that even now had her body covered in a thin sheen of perspiration. The fear that kept her awake and haunted her dreams when she slept. That one of these nights Buffy wouldn't come home. That tonight was that night.

She pretended she wasn't almost faint with relief when she heard her mother call her sister's name and heard her sister's voice respond. After the initial greeting their voices were too hushed for her to hear. She was about to go to the top of the stairs to eavesdrop when she heard Buffy stomping up the stairs, her mother calling her name plaintively after her. She planned on pretending to be asleep, but the need to make sure that her sister was really here was overwhelming. Anything to make that anxiety go away for awhile, make it small enough that she could pretend it didn't even exist.

"Dad called," she called out as Buffy passed her door. She heard her sister stop, then heard the footsteps coming closer. She looked up and saw Buffy silloutted in the light shining from the hall, creating a halo effect all around her. Dawn thought she looked like something that came from another world, something not even real.

"When?" Buffy asked, her voice raw with emotion. Dawn pretended not to notice that too.

"Tonight. After you left."

"Oh. How did he sound?" Buffy asked, trying to sound casually interested. Dawn shrugged, the blanket falling from her shoulders. 

"Like Dad," she answered softly. As Buffy spoke again she came into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed but not turning on the light. This was due to some unspoken sisterly agreement that neither of them even realized they had. Some tacit acknowledgement that this conversation, like similar ones on nights past and since, were not for their mother's ears.

"Did he ask about me?" Buffy asked, for a moment sounding younger than her sister. Dawn felt a small wave of sympathy, quickly overridden by her anger at the memory.

"Mom told him you were out. And then there was yelling. You know, the usual," she finished accusingly. Buffy looked away, putting her hand up to her face. 

"Oh," responded Buffy. To Dawn's alarm, she realized her sister was crying. A wave of guilt passed over her.

"Buffy, are you okay?" she asked, her voice cracking. Buffy looked at her and tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it.

"Sure...no...I don't know," she admitted, the tears flowing more freely and becoming sobs. Dawn sat upright in bed, not sure of what she should do. "I just...I was making new friends, you know? And now there are more vampires and one of my new...well, we weren't really friends yet, but we were kinda getting there...I think....I don't know, maybe I just can't. God, this just sucks so much." Dawn found herself completely thrown by the nearly incomprehensible babble coming from her sister. There were only a few times since she found out about the Slayer thing that she'd seen her sister so upset, and all of those times really bad things had happened. Not to Buffy, but to other people. An upset Buffy scared Dawn more than just about anything.

"Buffy, what happened?" she asked, her voice trembling with worry.

"He was taken. Jesse. The vampires took him and I couldn't save him," Buffy said. Dawn didn't know who Jesse was, but she understood what Buffy was saying.

"Is he...?" she began, swallowing hard and unable to say the word 'dead'. Buffy looked at her through red-rimmed eyes. Her sobs had subsided, and now she just seemed empty.

"I don't know," she answered. Dawn nodded, then gave her sister a small punch in the arm.

"Then he could be okay, right? And you'll save him tomorrow," she said brightly. Buffy smiled at her sister's innocent faith.

"You think?" she sniffled, and Dawn nodded, her smile faltering.

"Of course...Buffy?" she said, her tone serious again.

"Yeah?"

"Don't you ever...?" Again Dawn found herself unable to finish the sentence; again her sister knew what she was trying to say.

"I miss him too, Dawn. All the time. I wish things were different, but I can't change this. Can you understand that?" The last came out in a pleading tone. Dawn wanted to tell Buffy it was okay, that she did understand, that it wasn't her fault. But a larger part of her was too irate about everything that had happened, demanded that someone had to take the blame. If not Buffy, then who? She lay back down and turned her back on her sister, pulling the blanket back up to her chin. Resentment made her suddenly cold.

"I guess. Good night, Buffy," she said. She could feel Buffy watching her for a while, then the weight on the bed shifted and she heard the steps to the door.

"Good night," her sister whispered, closing the door behind her. None of the Summers women got much in the way of sleep that night, each lost in their own litany of anger, hurt and regret.

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Feedback makes me happy...on to Part 2...


	2. Part 2

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Really don't even own the plot or the dialogue of this one, since it's based on Joss' work. Oh well.

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This had not been one of Buffy's better days. First Principal Flutie had caught her trying to leave campus. Like he hadn't already pegged her as a delinquent. Then Annoying Cryptic Guy - Angel - had shown up again and insulted her while issuing more warnings about this Harvest thing. Then Xander had followed her on her rescue attempt, only to find that Jesse had been turned. Then they'd figured out that all the kids at the Bronze were in peril from the Harvest and they had to get there pronto. Just as soon as she got her slaying supplies together...

"Buffy?"

Buffy froze for a moment then turned, slipping into her black jacket as she did. She put her hands on her hips and gave her sister a long-suffering sigh.

"What is it, Dawn?"

"You're going out?" Dawn asked casually.

"I have to," Buffy replied briskly, moving on to her weapons chest. Dawn followed, watching over her shoulder while she tattled eagerly.

"Mom got a call this afternoon. From your principal. She tried to cover for you, but still, major wiggage. You should have heard her talking to herself. 'We haven't even finished unpacking and I'm already getting calls from the principal.'" Dawn said, mimicking their mother's voice. Buffy's shoulders sagged momentarily, then she continued to pull out supplies. Dawn's eyes widened at the growing arsenal.

"Lots of vampires, huh?"

"Yeah...where's Mom?" Buffy asked. Before Dawn could answer they both heard the front door open.

"Bye girls. Be good!" she heard her mother call as she closed the door behind her. Even with Slayer speed Buffy knew she wasn't going to make it in time to stop her.

"Mom! Wait!" Buffy yelled. She jumped to the bottom of the stairs and ran to the front door. Just as she hit the porch her mother was pulling out of the driveway. Buffy waved frantically, and the car seemed to hesitate for a moment, then kept going. Buffy couldn't be sure, but in her heart she knew that her mother had seen her and hadn't stopped. Buffy slammed her palm against the front door in frustration, leaving a small mark. Joyce had no idea what she had just done. Dawn watched her, hands on hips and a smug smile on her face.

"Did she say when she'll be back?"

"She said emergency at the gallery. Could be a while."

"Terrific. That's just great. I'll just tell all the people who are going to die, gee, I'm sorry, I had to babysit my kid sister!"

"You can just leave me here, you know. I'm okay alone," Dawn said. Buffy shook her head angrily.

"No, I can't. She knows I can't. God, like this wasn't hard enough without Mom going all passive aggressivey on me. She doesn't know what's going to happen if I'm not where I need to be. People are gonna die. Lots of people. Maybe everybody."

"So what are you gonna do?" Dawn asked. Buffy stared at her for a long moment.

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"This is absolutely not acceptable, Buffy!" Giles said for the third time. Dawn thought she'd never seen a man turn as red as this British guy. Her sister's new Watcher, apparently. He was younger than Merrick, but still absurdly old in Dawn's estimation. With them were a pretty red-haired girl and a dark-haired boy. Willow and Xander, Buffy's new friends, who knew all about her duties as the Slayer. Dawn would never admit it, but she liked them straight off. Willow was smart and sweet, and Xander was funny. Not to mention that he made her stomach feel all flippy when he looked at her. 

"Giles, I had no choice! Trust me, I'm not happy about it either," Buffy said, glaring at Dawn like she had created this problem on purpose. Dawn ignored her, looking down at the five crosses Buffy had hung around her neck before they left the house.

"Hey, can I take these off?" she asked.

"No!" All four of them responded in unison.

"But they're really heavy!" Dawn whined.

"Be quiet, Dawn," Buffy snapped. Dawn folded her arms over her chest and glared.

"I fail to understand how your mother could do such a thing. Surely when you explained to her about the Harvest..."

"I never actually got a chance to explain, Giles."

"We can't take her with us. She's just a kid," Xander said, bobbing his head and giving Dawn a little smile. Dawn blushed to her roots and looked away, feeling her stomach flutter again.

"I know. My mom will kill me if I take her slaying," Buffy groaned.

"I can look out for her," Willow offered. "We'll go back-"

"Hello! Standing right here!" Dawn huffed.

"There's no time," Giles groused. "We need to get to the Bronze before it's too late to stop the Harvest."

"Okay. Dawn, you're coming with us. But don't touch anything, do everything any of us tell you without question, and if you tell Mom about this ever you're not going to live to see your twelfth birthday. Understand me?"

"Yeah. Am I gonna get to slay a vampire?" Dawn asked excitedly.

"No!" they all chorused again. 

A short while later Buffy was banging on the doors of the Bronze.

"It's locked!" she cried in frustration.

"We're too late," Giles lamented.

"I didn't know I was gonna have kid sister duty!" Buffy said defensively.

"Can you break it down?" Xander asked.

"No...Umm...you guys try the back entrance. I'll find my own way."

"Right. Come on," Giles said brusquely.

"Wait! Guys! Here," Buffy said, handing Willow her slaying supplies. "You get the exit cleared and the people out. That's all. Don't go all Wild Bunch on me."

"See you inside," Giles said in way of dismissal. Buffy still hesitated, looking at her sister, then back at her Watcher. "Nothing will happen to Dawn. On my life, Buffy." Buffy nodded.

"Obey Giles," she demanded. To her surprise, her sister only nodded meekly. She watched as the four of them disappeared around the corner, then tried to put out of her mind that her sister was about to enter a den of vampires. *When this is over, Mom and I have to have a talk. A really, really long talk.*

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Feedback makes me happier than you could possibly know...on to Part 3 (final chapter!)


	3. Part 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing and none of these characters are mine. I'm merely borrowing them, and making no money, only fun. Borrowing scenes and dialogue too, just cause I can.

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"No joy!" Willow moaned, pulling on the stubborn door.

"We gotta get in there before Jesse does something even stupider than usual," Xander lamented, turning away from the door and clenching his fists in frustration.

"You listen to me!" Giles said sternly. "Jesse is dead! You have to remember that when you see him, you're not looking at your friend. You're looking at the thing that killed him."

"Are there a l-lot of vampires in there?" Dawn asked in a shaky voice. She knew about vampires, knew what her sister did, but this was the first time she really realized they could be a threat.

"Yes," was Giles' brusque response. "That's why it's very important that you stay close to one of us at all times, preferably me. We're going to try to sneak people out and hopefully not attract their attention."

"Okay," Dawn answered. "I can be sneaky." In the meantime Xander was continuing to try to open the door, alternately pulling and pushing in frustration. He started looking around for something he could use to smash the lock. "And I can get that door open," Dawn added confidently. The other three looked at her in surprise.

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Buffy looked through the broken skylight and crawled silently onto the overhead loft. She could see them all, the frightened teens and the smug, vicious vampires. So many of them. She wasn't confident she could actually take them all on and win. Especially Luke. That hulking monster had already bested her once, and Jesse had been lost as a result. Buffy's resolve strengthened. For Jesse and for the others, she would not fail. She simply couldn't.

Her attention was drawn to Luke, standing on the stage and dropping a recently drained victim. The body fell with a boneless thud.

"I feel him rising. Every soul brings him closer. I need another!" Luke cried. Giles had told her that one vampire would function as the Vessel, given the power to raise the Master; she knew it had to be Luke. A growl alerted her to the presence of a vampire nearby. Buffy took a deep breath and attacked, the fight amazingly quiet until she heard a familiar scream. Without thinking she kicked hard and the vampire flew over the railing, crashing to the ground below with a thud that stunned the room into silence. 

Buffy leaned over the railing. Luke was holding a terrified Cordelia Chase. For a second Buffy saw the girl's pinched, frightened features morph into her sister's, and the room started to swim. She calmed her beating heart, bringing herself under control. Too many lives depended on it.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you in the middle of something?" she called with false innocence.

"You!" Luke hissed.

"You didn't think I'd miss this, did you?" she answered.

"I hoped you'd come," the vampire responded.

"Be right down," Buffy called. Taking a deep breath she grabbed the railing and swung her body over the side, letting go and landing on a pool table with ease. She did a quick flip off of the pool table, dusted an attacking vamp with a pool cue and looked up at Luke, removing her jacket. She hoped she looked and sounded more confident then she actually was.

"Okay, Vessel boy," she said saucily. "You want blood?" The vampire shoved Cordelia away.

"I want yours. Only yours," Luke replied. Buffy nodded. This was what she was hoping for. No one else would die as long as she was fighting him; all these people were being saved to raise the Master.

"Works for me," Buffy shrugged nonchalantly before cartwheeling up onto the stage. They traded blows for only a few minutes before Luke overpowered her, tossing her across the room. She landed on a pile of boxes with a grunt.

Buffy stood up and shook herself off, fending off another attack from a vampire to her side. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Xander ushering people out towards the back door while she had all the attention. She couldn't help but wonder where her sister was, and if she was staying out of trouble.

"It would be a first," she muttered as she dispatched another vamp and swung around looking for Luke. "She better behave or I am so dead."

"You're not a Slayer, you're a prophet," Luke snarled, grabbing her from behind. "Either way, I'm going to drink you dry."

Buffy struggled in his grip. Directly in her line of vision a vamp had grabbed from behind Xander as well, and she was powerless to help him. Then she saw a shadow running to Xander's aid, and her heart leapt into her throat. Spots were dancing before her eyes, but she managed to elbow Luke hard enough to loosen his grip. She bent over, throwing Luke over her shoulder as hard as she could. She didn't have the breath to scream much of a warning as she grabbed a cymbal from the drum set, flinging it towards Xander's attacker. Xander ducked as it decapitated the vamp, reducing him to ash.

"Head's up," he quipped, and Buffy grinned before Luke came at her again. At the same time Xander noticed Dawn was standing next to him, watching Buffy fight with an awestruck look.

"Dawn, stay back!" he said tersely, grabbing her arm and pushing her towards Willow and Giles.

"Watch her," he ordered tersely, and Willow nodded, grabbing the girl's hand. Xander scanned the room, spotting Jesse and heading towards him. Willow looked at Dawn, taking in the pale fear on the girl's face. She resolved to be brave for Buffy's sister's sake.

"Stay close to me, Dawnie, okay? We've got to get all these people out fast," Willow whispered. Dawn nodded meekly. The two girls joined Giles in continuing to usher people out the back door as fast as they could. Already there was a bottleneck at the rear exit, and Giles feared they wouldn't be able to get everyone out in time.

"We're going to need to open the front as well," he called to Willow, just as a blonde vampire knocked him down from behind. Both Willow and Dawn screamed as he struggled to keep fangs from penetrating his neck. A sudden rage filled Willow. She recognized Darla as the vampire who had bitten Jesse, probably the one who had killed him. Without another thought she ran forward.

"Get off of him!" she screamed, tossing holy water into the surprised vampire's face. The blonde screamed, then screamed even louder as Dawn unexpectedly shoved a cross against her forehead. Willow instantly pulled the younger girl away as Darla jumped up and ran away, still screaming as smoke billowed from her face. Willow quickly helped Giles to his feet.

"Are you alright?" she asked worriedly. Giles gave her a tentative smile.

"I believe so, thanks to you and...where's Dawn?" he asked, looking behind Willow. They both moaned loudly. Dawn, in the meantime, had seen a vampire holding Xander, pushing him against the wall. From the lost expression on Xander's face, Dawn knew he was in big trouble. She ran to his aid just as someone shoved the vampire from behind, making him explode into dust before Xander's now horrified eyes. Xander dropped his stake just as Dawn reached him. He was shaking and unusually pale.

"Are you okay?" Dawn asked him, impulsively taking hold of his hand. Xander looked down at her with a grim but genuine smile.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said. "I'm just-Hey!" he yelled as a vampire grabbed him from behind. Dawn screamed as the other vampire wrapped one hand around her waist, hissing when he touched one of the crosses hanging from her neck. 

Buffy grabbed a microphone stand in desperation. Her stake was out of reach, and Luke was advancing on her triumphantly once again. Sudden inspiration struck as he taunted her.

"You forget. Metal can't hurt me."

"Oh, yeah? Well there's something you forgot about too," she said as she heaved the microphone stand like a javelin. "Sunrise!" Buffy called triumphantly as the window behind Luke shattered. The vampire covered his face, cowering for a moment before he saw the streetlamp. In one graceful move she swept up her stake and brought it home, sending Luke reeling. 

"In about nine hours, moron," she quipped. The vampire staggered off the stage and fell to dust. Buffy looked up as the vampires holding Xander and Dawn moved past her. The look on her face was such pure murderous rage that the vampires quickly dropped their prizes and ran from the Bronze as fast as they could. Buffy vaulted off the stage and ran to her sister, making sure she was unbitten. Willow and Giles hurried over.

"I take it it's over," Giles said dryly.

"Did we win?" Dawn asked.

"We averted the Apocalypse, I give us points for that," Buffy answered automatically, then glared at her sister. "What am I saying? WE didn't do that...at least no WE that includes YOU, unless you want us both to be grounded till our senior citizen discounts kick in."

"But I-"

"Were never here. Didn't see any of it," Buffy warned again.

"I know nothing," her sister said, imitating Sergeant Schultz from Hogan's Heroes with a mocking salute. Buffy couldn't help a small grin of amusement at her sister's antics. She looked at the others and saw they were smiling as well. Xander shook his head.

"Well, one thing's for sure. Nothing's ever going to be the same again."

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Dawn heard the whispers as soon as she got to school the next day. Of course, none of her classmates had been at the Bronze, but they had older brothers and sisters who were. She only caught snatches of what they were saying, but it was enough to make her cheeks flame red with embarrassment.

"...kicked out of her old school..."

"...belongs to a gang..."

"...she tried to kill all of us..."

"...her sister's probably just as weird..."

"...I heard she was even there, helping trash the place..."

"...my mom said to stay away from Dawn Summers..."

Dawn lifted her head high, clutching her books to her chest and pretending to be deaf and dumb. In the cafeteria she acted as if that she liked having the table to herself, spreading her stuff around and making believe she was completely engrossed in her book. In truth, her mind was too busy dealing with her humiliation to concentrate on a single word. Last night she had seen her sister in action as the Slayer. Buffy had saved all those people, and now they acted like she had been the one to cause all the problems. What good was it to have a superhero for a sister when everyone just thought she was weird. She was proud of Buffy, but in the light of day, in the face of these jeers and accusations, she wished once again that she could have a normal sister, a normal life, normal-

"Excuse me?" A girl about her age with light brown hair and a pleasant smile looked down at Dawn, holding a cafeteria tray. "Do you mind if I sit here?" Dawn instinctively looked around to see if there was a joke being played on her, but no one else seemed to be paying attention.

"Sure," she said with a cautious shrug. The girl smiled even more broadly as she set down her tray and nodded towards the book.

"Thanks. Is that any good?"

"What? Oh, this? I...yeah, I think so," Dawn said shyly, setting the book aside. A moment of awkward silence later, she cocked her head at the girl, who was setting out her lunch while humming happily. "Ummm...you know who I am, right?"

"Sure. New kid. Dawn...Summers?" The girl held out her hand to be shaken, her friendly eyes twinkling. "I'm Janice. Janice Penshaw." Dawn shook the hand at first tentatively, then more firmly, a smile on her face.

"It's nice to meet you," Dawn said, then frowned. "You don't just want to talk about my sister, right?"

"What sister?" Janice asked innocently, and Dawn smiled.

"Nobody. Nothing," Dawn answered hastily, smiling as she dug into her lunch and the two girls began making small talk about their classes. After a few minutes, some other girls came over and Janice introduced Dawn to them as they set down their trays and took the available seats, filling up the table with idle chatter and screams of laughter. Dawn smiled. This was what she wanted. Normal friends. Buffy could do the slaying gig, deal with the Hellmouth and the vampires and any other creepy things. From now on, Dawn was staying out of it.

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Yeah, right! Tune in for Dawn's next adventure with the Scooby Gang...a retelling of "The Pack" I'm titling "Prey"...and feedback really is a wonderful help to me in this, so don't be shy!


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